The Ultimate Marauder
by Savior of the Truth
Summary: This story is trying to tell how Remus witnessed the day of Sirius' death. TONKS IMPLIED. Not funny.


_Wotcher guys! Well, another pathetic attempt of mine on a Remus/Tonks fanfiction. But you judge._

_Disclaimer: ok, so JKR did __**not**__ think it was funny to claim owning the Harry Potter rights. She rolled her eyes and threatened with jail. But seeing as my hand has – thanks to the murtlap essence (spelling??) – recovered so far (the message won't fade, though), I feel like being up to no good again and claim to be owning The Simpsons. Just imagine yellow Remus and Tonks. Or Sirius. Seriously hilarious! Spectacular. Chrm._

_This has been rather hard to write, because I had to actually use the past perfect and past perfect progressive for the most part. It was a challenge ;-)_

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**The Ultimate Marauder**

He awoke with a start, feeling the unfamiliar pressure of something on his shoulder.

He suppressed a yawn, and turned his head slightly, opening one eye in the process. The first thing he found out was that it was apparently early morning. The dim light of a rising sun shone through the thick curtains attached to the windows of #12 Grimmauld Place.

Secondly, he thought with a movement of stirring his sleeping muscles back to life, he was not laying in his bed. In fact, he recognised the firm but comfortable sofa of Grimmauld's library.

The third - and most disturbing - thing he noticed was Nymphadora Tonks laying curled at his side, her head on his shoulder and one arm draped around his stomach.

Remus Lupin panicked. How had he got there for Merlin's sake?

His left arm was wrapped around Tonks' back, holding her close. He could not bring himself to move away, or wake her up for that matter. So he stayed where he was and sank back into the arm of the sofa, turning his head to look at her face. She looked so young, he thought, then his brain reminded him that she in fact _was _so very young. Too young to be fighting in this war, too young to see everybody around her die. But she was an Auror, he resumed, tearing his eyes away from her peaceful sleeping form.

Then memory slowly crept over him...

7 days before

He had jerked awake from a nightmare at around five in the morning. He had sat up and sneaked downstairs into the kitchen of the headquarters of the Order to get a cup of tea and calm himself.

Not surprinsingly, he had found Sirius at the dark wooden table, drinking a butterbeer and doing the crossword in the _Prophet_ from the previous day. The dark haired man hadn't even looked up when Remus entered, he had simply summoned a cup and poured some tea, while scribbling like mad onto the piece of rubbish that called itself a newspaper these days.

Remus had gladly accepted the offer and sat down across from his best mate, gently blowing on his steaming tea. They'd sat there in silence for almost an hour, until they had heard the front door open - they had grasped their wands just in case - followed closely by the all too familiar thud and muttered "Bugger!".

Remus had released his wand while Sirius had summoned a third cup from the cupboard and about five seconds later the kitchen door had opened, revealing a pale and rather dishevelled Tonks. She had smiled at them with her trademark "Wotcher" and declared she had to drop off some paperwork for Dumbledore. She had positioned the pile of paper on the table and rushed off again

Remus had thought she looked tired, and assumed she had had double shifts again.

Sirius had just vanished the cup.

The day had gone by quite uneventful - until around 5 pm, that is.

Remus and Sirius had been rather lazy the whole day, with nothing more spectacular happening than catching Kreacher snogging his old mistress' dressing gown.

They had just been heading off to feed Buckbeak when they'd heard a noise coming from the kitchen.

Exchanging a quick look, they had silently agreed to go and check but hadn't got anywhere near the door when it had swept open, revealing a haunted-looking and extremely annoyed Severus Snape.

Sirius' face had darkened immediately, and Remus had greeted the black cloaked man.

"Did something happen?" Remus had asked, because Snape indeed had looked almost relieved when his eyes had scanned Sirius.

"Potter was having a _vision_ again. No surprise as he does not seem capable of learning simple things like clearing his mind." Snape had sneered as an answer.

"What did he see?" Remus had questioned, wanting to keep Sirius from jumping in the Potions Masters face.

"From what I know he saw _him_", his greasy head had nodded in the general direction of Sirius, "being tortured by the Dark Lord. Of course he panicked, thinking it true."

Snape had looked like he would be thoroughly enjoying himself by watching You-know-who torturing Sirius. The latter had cleared his throat and merely said "Well, I'm alive, apparently."

Snape had smiled nastily and Remus had had the vague idea that something good was on his mind. And if there was something to make Snape smile like that, it meant pain, embarrassment and misfortune for others.

"What about Harry?" Remus had asked, and beside him Sirius had tensed. "Is he alright?"

Snape's smile had widened. "He's got himself into trouble _again_, but we've all accommodated to that by now."

Sirius had growled. "What about Harry?" he had repeated.

"Don't worry Black," Snape had said coldly. "He'll be alive. Let's just say, Dolores Umbridge will take care of that matter."

With a swish of his cloak he had been gone.

Sirius had muttered something including the words "hell", "git" and "go to", whilst pulling out his wand and entering the kitchen. He had stepped in front of the fire and seized some green powder, but before he had the time to go anywhere, Remus had pulled him back by his robes.

"What do you think you're doing?!" he had asked his friend.

"I'm going to see if Harry's alright!" Sirius had growled and tried to break free of Remus' hold. But the latter hadn't let go.

"So you think running into Hogwarts and screaming for Harry would help him?" Remus had asked sarcastically. And Sirius had stopped struggling.

They had sat down at the table and fallen silent, listening for the faintest noise.

About fifteen minutes had passed since Snape's departure, when suddenly the front door had opened a second time that day.

The two men had looked at each other, alarmed. They'd clutched their wands and risen from the chairs they had sat in, listening intently and actually holding their breath.

Then, the kitchen door had opened slowly and Kingsley Shacklebolt had entered the room, closely followed by Alastor – "Mad-Eye" – Moody and Nymphadora Tonks. Kingsley had greeted Sirius and Remus with his deep slow voice, Moody grumbling something incoherent and Tonks smiled at them broadly.

"We just came round to drop off some reports," Tonks had explained happily, while Sirius had summoned five glasses from the cupboard.

Remus had returned her smile, when suddenly the fire to their right had illuminated with green flames. The three Aurors had had their wands out in a flash, Remus and Sirius rising theirs again, but then danger seemed to have dissolved, because it was only a roll of parchment laying on the floor, the fire burning merrily yellow and reddish again.

Sirius had picked up the roll and then everything Remus remembered was a blur.

He remembered holding Sirius back from storming out the front door, he even remembered the other present Order members trying to convince the black haired man to stay put. He remembered the sick feeling his stomach when Sirius had finally blurted out that Harry was on his way to London, intending to enter the Ministry of Magic to save Sirius and presumably running straight into Voldemort's outstretched arms.

Remus recalled running into the Ministry – alongside Sirius, who hadn't been reasonable, and Tonks at his other side – searching for Harry and not knowing what would be greeting him if they found him.

Then they had burst into a rectangular room with stone benches all around, facing the middle of the room where there was an archway, with a veil hanging inside it, on a podium. He had felt a shiver running down his spine, he recollected. There had been six of his former students in there, including Harry of course, battling against a few Death Eaters. Remus had not hesitated, but instead thrown himself into the fight. There had been not much remorable going on for some minutes, when – everyone was throwing curses at their opponents, and ducking to avoid being hit by the others – Remus had noticed Sirius suddenly battling his cousin, Bellatrix. He had thrown a curse at his opponent and dared a glance around the room, quickly finding what he'd been looking for. On the other side of the room, he saw Tonks' exanimate body laying on the ground, Moody crawling towards her. Remus' heart had frozen for a moment, before all worry and fear had been banned from his mind.

He'd seen – with another stop of his heart – Harry and Neville, and before them Lucius Malfoy, his long blond hair flung back and his wand pointed out at the two teenagers. Without thinking, Remus had thrown himself between them, ordering the boys to leave and picking up the fight with Malfoy senior.

Then everything had gone haywire. Remus had wriggled himself out of his fight with Malfoy and turned just in time to see Bellatrix firing the deadly curse at Sirius. Remus had seen it as though it had been in slow motion, Sirius' astonished gaze, falling right through the veil behind him. Then, suddenly, Harry had been there, apparently intending to reach for his godfather. Remus had dashed over to Harry, holding him back from running into deterioration.

"He's gone," Remus had repeated over and over again, but then Harry had freed himself from his grasp, running off after Bellatrix. Remus had intended to follow, but seeing that Dumbledore had already rushed off after his protégé, the former teacher had turned to the remaining rest in the room. The Death Eaters had run for it, left were only an unconcious Hermione, a giggling Ron, Ginny with a twisted ankle and two exhausted and beaten looking students Neville and Luna. Remus had turned away from them, trying to fight back tears which had threatened to fall from his eyes.

There had been Kingsley, sitting on a stone bench, his head in his hands, Mad-Eye Moody, still trying to first-aid Tonks, and Remus' eyes had begun to sting again. He'd barely noticed the medics running in and fussing over Tonks, then ushering Mad-Eye and Kingsley out of the room, along with the kids, carrying Tonks, as well as Hermione and Ron on stretchers between them. They'd turned and asked if Remus was alright, too, but he had only shaken his head and continued to stand there, like glued to the spot, unwilling to accept that fate had just taken the very last one of his friends.

Remus had returned to Grimmauld Place in a daze. Even if he'd actually been thinking, he didn't have anywhere else to go to. He had lived tha past week in solitude, everyone being too busy to care about him. True, Dumbledore had stopped by to make sure he wasn't suicidal, but that had been all. He didn't blame the others, though. Duty had priority. He had wanted to throw himself into work again, but everyone had insisted for him to stay put, take it slow. He hadn't been able to take it. He'd sat at the table, for hours, his mind trying to yope with the loss of his best friend, but his body had not let him. He had watched his tea getting cold, then returning to his room. He'd layn in his bed, clothed and staring up at the ceiling, unable to sleep.

After six days living like that, the front door of #12 Grimmauld Place had opened and closed. Remus had been sitting at the kitchen table again and started when he'd heard the noise.

He hadn't even reached for his wand. He'd had no desire to defeat himself. He'd already been beyond the point where he would have cared if he died or lived.

He had semi-hoped for a Death Eater to burst into the room and put him at ease, so he would have been reunited with his friends again. What could have been worse than this? After approximately ten minutes, Remus had decided to have a look, not having heard anything since the door had closed, at whoever had been coming to pull him off his depressing thoughts.

The hall had been empty, the only noise being Mrs Black snoring behind her curtains. Remus had gone upstairs and listened intently for any sound. He had peered into every room on the first floor, finding nothing than depressing darkness. He had ascended the stairs to the second floor, without making any noise but he had found nothing, so he'd went further upstairs, when he had heard a quiet sob coming from his right. Remus had turned. The door of the room had been slightly ajar. Sirius' room. Remus had tensed. _Who could that be? _he'd asked himself. He' held his breath and pushed the door open. Someone had sat on Sirius' bed, a crooked figure, shaking with silent sobs, her back turned to him.

"Nymphadora?" His voice had been hoarser than normally, because he had not used his voice in a couple of days.

She'd flinched upon hearing his voice, jerking her head around and looking at him, frightened. Her eyes had been red and swollen, her hair a faint shade of her usual pink, but hanging unmotivated onto her shoulders. Steady streams of tears had been leading down her cheeks. Remus' eyebrows had drawn together and he had strode over to her immediately, pulling her into a bone-breaking embrace.

She had rested her head on his shoulder, her arms slung around his back and had resumed sobbing harder than before. Remus had not been able to suppress it anymore. After having lived almost a week… lonely, apathetic and cut off from any human contact, he had finally given in to the tears and the pain and the grief which had been gnawing at him all the time. Tonks' small figure had felt so good to hold and did now still.

Remus assumed that they must have managed to settle in the library, on the sofa in front of the fire, at some point, as for he had found himself there mere minutes ago.

The body in his arms stirred and shivered involuntarily. Remus pulled a blanket from the back of the sofa and draped it around them both, making sure it covered their feet. He was laying on the edge of the sofa, Tonks curled at his side, her back supported by the sofa's back. When she finally opened her eyes, Remus smiled down at her apologetically.

"Sorry." he whispered.

Tonks only looked at him, completely bewildered. Remus made a gesture at their current position and spoke again.

"This…"

He was cut off, however. "I'm not sorry." Her gaze was so intense and sincere and Remus had not had a woman in his arms for a very long time, so he did the first thing that came to mind. He wrapped his other arm around her shoulders and pulled her so close, he thought she might vanish into him. But Tonks only hugged him back. Then, suddenly, Remus remembered something and pulled back.

"How are you?" he asked, worried, he had only just remembered her getting injured at the Department of Mysteries. Sirius' death had wiped every other thoughts out of his mind.

"I'm fine," she answered, and looked at him with a rather sad smile. "Though I must say, I'm really sad that you didn't visit."

He tried a smile. "I'm sorry. I have no excuse for my behavior. Can I make it up, somehow?"

Tonks sniffed but grinned shyly up at him. Then her eyes flickered to his lips, though it was only a fraction of a second before they returned to his eyes, Remus noticed. His heart began to race and his pulse quickened in addition.

Under any other circumstances Remus would have probably withdrawn, excused himself or somehow pretended not to have gotten the hint. He would have questioned why a completely normal and healthy and first and foremost beautiful witch like Nymphadora Tonks would want him to do _that_ to her. He would have most certainly shied away and avoided her and the subject for as long as he could manage.

But under these particular circumstances, he tenderly stroked her cheek and after settling his hand in her hair at the back of her neck, he lowered his head towards hers and captured her lips in an intense kiss, rendering her completely speechless afterwards.

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_There you go. Crap? Good? Completely wrong? I beg to excuse any faults being based on "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", I tried to write this closely to the book but it turned out to be rather confusing and I couldn't make out where Sirius and Remus actually were most of the time…_

_I'm going to try complete Remus/Tonks next time. Hopefully doing better then._

_04/17/08_


End file.
